SIHH 2009:PRESS RELEASE: Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945 Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges Timepiece

PRESS RELEASE: Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945 Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges

The prestigious Tourbillon with three Bridges family welcomes a limited edition with an assertive personality: a new Vintage 1945 case, with a curved profile, houses an uncommon form of the three Bridges. Their design is inspired by a watch made by Constant Girard-Perregaux in the 1860s. Fifty pieces revisit this heritage with a modern outlook.

Few watchmaking creations have as rich a history as the Tourbillon with three gold Bridges. In the 19th Century, Constant Girard-Perregaux devoted long years to studying and putting together various escapement systems, in particular the tourbillon escapement. Its developments guided him towards a majestic architecture: he redesigned the three bridges holding the movement wheels in the shape of arrows, and set them in parallel, thereby aligning the barrel, the wheel train and the Tourbillon in the same axis. In this way, he achieved a completely innovative concept: the movement was no longer a technical and functional element, but also a design element in its own right. The perseverance and ingenuity of the La Chaux-de-Fonds watchmaker were rewarded: in 1889, his Tourbillon with three gold Bridges won a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition.

Among Constant Girard-Perregaux's work that led to the creation of his award-winning watch, a pocket watch with three parallel bridges, created in the 1860s, paved the way for his masterpiece. Crowned by a first class prize from the Neuchatel Observatory, this watch had aligned bridges, but the use of gold and the final shape of the bridges were still to come. The Vintage 1945 Tourbillon with three gold Bridges reinterprets this concept with a modern outlook. Its skeleton bridges assert a highly contemporary geometric simplicity. The purity of their lines results from meticulous preparation: the bridges are firstly finely hollowed out, and then carefully hand polished. It takes seven whole days of work to obtain an impeccable finish, particularly on the many tight angles. The Tourbillon too is the object of extreme attention, with its 72 components needing to be perfectly assembled within a diameter of one centimeter.

The distinction of this piece is also down to its rectangular case. Inspired by an Art Deco style watch from 1945, its design has been rethought by the Manufacture. Its spherical profile, with a slight camber, makes for a perfect match to the shape of the wrist. The crown is discreetly integrated into the case, to retain the balance of the lines. This aesthetic sophistication is supplemented by technical specifications illustrating Girard-Perregaux's comprehensive expertise. The Vintage 1945 Tourbillon with three gold Bridges is fitted with a self-winding calibre, thanks to an exclusive mechanism patented by the Manufacture: a platinum microrotor, incorporated behind the barrel, preserves the architecture of the movement, which has become an emblem of the Girard-Perregaux brand.

Technical specifications

Pink gold case
Dimensions: 36.10 x 35.25 mm
Sapphire crystal
Case-back secured by 4 screws
Water resistance: 30 meters

Girard-Perregaux movement GP9600C
Mechanical with automatic winding
Calibre: 28.60 x 30.30 mm
Frequency: 21,600 vibrations/hour (3 Hz)
Jewels: 30
Power reserve: minimum 48 hours
Functions: tourbillon, hour, minute, small seconds on the tourbillon
Alligator strap with folding buckle
Limited and numbered edition of 50 pieces